I think one of the reasons I saw (and still see) a lot more players in Forza Horizon 5 this year is cuz the game came out on PS5.
I've never been down with exclusives, even though I realize that exclusives sell systems. Microsoft has been dead last for two generations now, but I appreciate that they release their games on PC at exactly the same time as on Xbox consoles. Sony waits years cuz they want to maximize profits for PlayStation consoles first. But at least the Sony games do eventually end up on PC. I don't care how long it takes, so long as it finally happens. Would be cool to see Halo MCC come out on PS5 as well.
I also really like this modern era of cross-play, where players on different platforms can all play together. I also like cross-progression cuz my save files follow me no matter what platform I play the game on. That's something else I also really appreciate (although for Microsoft games, you usually have to get the game through the Microsoft Store rather than Steam if you want cross-progression, and I don't do that, cuz f*ck the Microsoft store and UWP apps).
As for this Halo 1 remake, I see it is using UE5, so I really hope there's no hitching and stuttering and sh1t. Visually the game doesn't look that much better than Halo 1 Anniversary's new graphics and art assets, but we've only seen these videos so no telling what the final product will look like. I still think a remake is unnecessary, especially since we already got a remaster, but whatever. Although a lot of fans seem to believe that the only reason they are doing this remake is cuz they lost a lot of talent and have no idea how to make a new Halo game (and Halo Infinite was meh), so the only thing left for them to do is rehash the past. Well, the controls and physics and AI should be updated, and they are modifying the levels for better balance and flow, so the remake does stand to improve on things over the original 24-year-old game. The music was already remastered for Halo 1 Anniversary, but the original soundtrack was better. I think that's gonna remain the case with the new remastering of the music for this new remake in UE5. Also there are 3 new prequel levels that take place before the original first level of the game.
Once again I see PC is getting shafted with split-screen multiplayer. Serious Sam 3 can do it, Gears of War 4 and 5 can do it, Doom 64 has like 7P or 8P split-screen on PC, but not a single f*cking Halo game has split-screen multiplayer on PC, and that is hella weaksauce. 4P online co-op is new for Halo 1 though. 4P co-op was originally introduced with Halo 3. Oh yeah, games like Gears 4 and 5 and Halo MCC support LAN. Will this new Halo 1 remake support LAN? I hope so, but that is such a rare thing these days. Back in August I was playing Halo MCC co-op with my bro who was visiting, using two desktop PCs. We tried to do LAN but couldn't get it to work, so we had to fallback to online co-op.
They will probably charge full price for this remake. It should be discounted for people who own Halo MCC. Well as usual I'll be waiting for a deep discount. And of course I always try before I buy.